“It will be,” I reassure him. “Then we can get on with our lives.”
“That’s all I want.”
“I’ll drink to that.” I click the neck of my beer bottle to his, though he’s barely touched a drop.
I glance over to Ophelia. “At least she seems to have found her place.”
Roman follows my line of sight, and finally a smile touches his lips. Ophelia is sitting in a circle with the other women, and Mackenzie and the Devils’ daughter sit in the middle of them. The women are playing peekaboo with the child, and they’re all laughing. It feels good to see Ophelia happy, and having found friendship, especially after losing Daisy. I also like seeing her with a child. It makes me think about our future, and the possibility of us having little ones running around one day.
A ringing sounds from somewhere in the building, and Roman jumps up. He picks up his tablet and swipes the screen. A video call expands to take up the screen, and Vani’s dad’s face appears in it.
“Roman?”
“I’m here,” he says.
Vani jumps in. “I’m here, too, Dad. You guys okay?”
I notice Camile surreptitiously slide into the shot.
“Vani,” he says, addressing his daughter, “get you and the other girls out of there.”
“Seriously?” Her face drops.
“Seriously,” he echoes.
She must know not to fight with him in situations like these, so she ushers the others out. Domenic goes with them, but Kirill and Tino stay. Ophelia doesn’t leave, either. For a moment, I consider telling her to go with the other women, but no fucking way. This is her life, too. That place tortured her, and she needs to know what’s happening.
I can hear a crackle and pop, plus shouting coming from behind Jack-the-blood McGrath. What the fuck is going on?
“Is the room clear?” Jack asks Roman.
Roman looks around. It’s only us, the Vipers, and the two remaining Devils. Not so long ago, we’d never have consideredthis a room full of people we could trust, but things have changed.
“Yeah, it’s clear,” Roman says.
“I have someone here I believe you know.”
There’s movement onscreen, and then a couple of the other bikers haul an older man into the shot. He’s tall, his white hair clearly having been blond earlier in his life, and his eyes are strangely familiar.
I glance over at Roman, who has gone completely pale as he stares at the screen, his mouth open in shock.
CHAPTER 39
Roman
“What the fuckis he doing there?” I say from between gritted teeth when I can finally get the words out.
It’s taking all my strength just to remain standing. My knees are threatening to buckle beneath me, but I don’t want to look weak. Not in front of the man presented to me onscreen.
“Who is he, Rome?” Malachi asks.
Part of me wants to scream at him to shut the fuck up because I need to process this, but Mal is my family now, and he cares, so I force the words out of my throat.
My voice is barely a whisper. “My uncle.”
I sense the eyes of everyone else in the water tower on me. Now I find myself wishing I’d asked everyone to leave. I don’t want to be facing this bastard in front of everyone else. I hate that, even after all these years, I still experience the same wave of shame washing over me. I thought I’d made my peace with what this son of a bitch did to me, but now it’s as though I’m a little kid and he’s going to make me go in the closet with him again.
The exact same feelings are there—the fear, the shame. I even feel smaller, as if I’m somehow diminished in stature. Can the others feel my shame? The sticky, oily coating of it covering me, like those poor birds that get caught in oil spills.
